Dr. Cynthia R. Greenlee

Dr. Cynthia R. Greenlee is a writer and historian. A native Southerner, Cynthia has a master’s in journalism from the University of North Carolina and a doctorate in American history at Duke University. She specializes in African-American women’s and legal history of the late nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. She began her writing career with an unintelligible picture book at age 5, worked as a newspaper journalist and editor, and later in communications for international health organizations. Today, she is a senior editor at Rewire.News. In her other work, she writes historically informed pieces that connect the contemporary (and sometimes the personal) with current events and policies related to race, the arts and reproductive issues. Her writing has been published at American Prospect, Dissent, EBONY.com, Elle, Longreads, Ms. Magazine, Munchies, Narratively, Rewire.News, Salon, Smithsonian, and the Washington Post, among other outlets. She is currently at work on two projects: a manuscript about black girls and the law, and a second book about African-Americans and abortion.